It is investigating claims the BOE and Financial Services Authority are gold-plating bank liquidity rules to the detriment of bank lending and promising to bang heads together if true, according to someone familiar with Mr. Osborne's thinking.

This year he is trotting out a series of management reforms that include reducing "gold-plating" -- the practice of adding more and more capabilities to a weapons system without regard to cost -- to increasing competitive bidding for service contracts.

Yet some of the weirdest ideas excite the tycoons, who can glimpse a fortune in plastic balls with Pac-Man-like faces that are floated in toilet bowls to make training fun for toddlers; or a celebrity-look-alike service; or a proposed franchise for in-home gold-plating services.